Baseball teams and scouts and media and gawkers were given a first glimpse at Tim Tebow The Baseball Player on Aug. 30, the clean-slate, open-eyes peek into whether the Heisman Trophy winner, NFL flameout, near-Messiah could play ball.

Two problems with this fresh start: Tebow was hurt, and one pitcher was grooving him pitches.

The truth about the workout was uncovered by The MMQB in a comprehensive feature, which relived the Los Angeles showcase by coloring it with the behind-the-scenes workings, including that Tebow tore his left oblique days before the tryout.

His somehow legendary work ethic worked against him, as he trained in the batter’s box for hours a day in the months leading up to his big day. He would take hundreds of swings, torture on bleeding hands, then run and collect the balls so he could do it all again. The reps mounted, and so did the strain he was putting on his body, until his left oblique gave.

Tebow hid the injury — if teams were to find out he had gotten hurt so quickly, it could hurt his value. Plus, pushing the date so late in the game would validate Tebow critics saying the event was more carnival than tryout. So just a few minutes before the workout, he lay on a table with a trainer working on his oblique and a friend reading him Bible verses. And then the showcase started — which went well until real, live pitchers were brought into the mix — but it could have gone a lot worse if Tebow weren’t being grooved pitches.

Video courtesy of Ken Davidoff

According to the report, Chad Smith, one of the two former major league pitchers brought in to put Tebow’s skill level in context, served him some meatballs. As Tebow struggled along — feeling pain with each swing, and perhaps some embarrassment with a growing number of whiffs — Smith and scouts sniffed out his weakness. Tebow could hit fastballs, but a good major league changeup was new to him.

Smith, a professed Tebow fan, was the first pitcher up and mostly mowed him down. Then David Aardsma, another ex-big leaguer, added to the damage to Tebow’s psyche.

It was more sad than comical until Smith strolled back to the mound, with his newfound knowledge of the pitches Tebow could (and couldn’t) hit. On his way, Smith advised him to be ready for some fastballs. And sure enough, many came, right where Tebow liked them.

The ball was flying out, and the Mets — for branding reasons, to be fair, more than for baseball reasons — were signing him up.